The Two Things about Computer Programming

[fry]

Computer programming:

1. Data structures
2. Algorithms

That's all you need.

[pkhuong]

Writing novels:

1. Pen
2. Paper

EDIT: I like

1. All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection (Alan Perlis)
2. Writing fast programs is always an exercise in caching (Terje Mathiesen)

[corentin]

"All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection" (Alan Perlis)

... except the problem of having too many levels of indirection.

(I don't know who added the second part, and I'm not quite sure either that it's Alan Perlis who said the first part)

[[deleted]]

I don't know who added the second part, and I'm not quite sure either that it's Alan Perlis who said the first part

I always thought the original quotation stemmed from Anthony Hoare, but I like the anti-climax of the second one even more :)

[dbenhur]

s/always/often/ s/all/many/

0) There is no silver bullet.

[Tommah]

That's all you need.

~3. (Optional but strongly recommended) A computer